Jeff Mariotte has had an amazing career in the book industry thus far, and lucky for us, he’s showing no sign of stopping. My first introduction to his work was a D&D novel called City Under the Sand. With that novel, I booked him to post on Babel Clash with a handful of other D&D authors. From there, the two of us kept in contact and I’ve been working on catching up with his backlist ever since.

Aside from all of the work he’s doing on numerous writing projects, Jeff also co-owns one of the coolest genre bookstores around…Mysterious Galaxy. Click the image below to direct link to their website…lots of great stuff going on there.

As you’ll read from our interview below, Jeff has a very exciting year ahead of him. If you want to get caught up with one of the hardest working guys in the industry, keep reading. Trust me…it’s worth it!

Without further delay, see my Friday Five with genre author Jeff Mariotte below.

1) You’ve really had a career that is pretty drool-worthy to this point: publishing, author, comic writer, book store owner. When looking at what you’ve done so far, what are you the most proud of?

That’s a hard question, because any writer who’s been lucky enough to keep working as long as I have has a lot of proud moments. The first time a comic book came out with my name on the cover, then the first novel, were big ones. Getting blurbs from some of the folks I’ve admired for so long, like David Morrell, Don Winslow, T. Jefferson Parker and Michael Connelly (nobody has seen those two yet, but soon…), being nominated for Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards, and winning the first two Scribe Awards ever presented for original fiction. All great moments. And one of the best is when I meet a reader who has liked the work, and that momentary thrill when you learn that they’re a fan–whether it’s Joss Whedon, Harlan Ellison, or a random stranger in a bookstore or comic shop or airport.

But I’m going to have to go with a more personal memory. My father passed away several years ago, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. One of the last times I saw him, he couldn’t remember who I was, but his natural friendliness still shone through, and he showed me around his room, showed me some books on his shelf–books I had written–and told me how proud he was of his son, the writer. I don’t think anything will ever match that.

2) Speaking of the book store, as an indie store owner, what do you anticipate the landscape of the book world being in the next few years? What are the particular challenges you face?

Bookselling is a challenging business on so many levels. There’s the world-domination plan that Amazon has, like a supervillain bent on taking over without giving any thought to the unintended consequences of that act. There’s the ongoing issue of how publishers can effectively monetize e-books, and how independent booksellers can sell them (our bookstore, Mysterious Galaxy is selling KOBO e-readers and Kobo e-books, and so far, so good). There are the struggles that have always existed in bookselling, which you know as well as anyone–relatively small profit margins, dealing with returns, trying to get those initial orders right, and so on. We’re lucky in that Mysterious Galaxy is blessed with amazing staffs at both locations (San Diego and Redondo Beach, CA), we have a great reputation with authors and publishers, and we continue to exhibit at some of the best book events in the country, including the Los Angeles Times and Tucson Festivals of Books, Comic-Con International: San Diego, the Phoenix Comicon, the relatively new Long Beach Comic and Horror Con, and others, so we’re constantly finding new readers and friends.

3) You’ve got a pretty busy schedule of book releases for 2013 with Season of the Wolf kind of kicking things off. What can fans expect from this one?

Season of the Wolf is a supernatural thriller that, I believe, will keep you up far into the night. I like to write books that build up a head of steam and then don’t let up, so you’ve got to flip the pages until the end. This one’s about a coal-company heir who’s trying to do something positive with his fortune, to make up for what he sees as the environmental devastation caused by the family business. He’s also got some personal secrets weighing on him. He winds up in Silver Gap, Colorado, a little mountain town, at just about the same moment that a pack of incredibly powerful, cunning, and tenacious wolves begin preying on the townsfolk. It’s not a werewolf novel, but these are not quite like any other wolves you’ve encountered, either. And there’s more going on in the little town than just wolf problems. The book’s scary and intense and, I think, maybe a little enlightening at the same time.

Click the image for a chance to win an advanced copy via Goodreads (through Jan. 17th).

4) How does your writing approach change when you’re writing something like Season of the Wolf as opposed to your work with tie-in novels or comic books?

A tie-in novel is necessarily different in that the underlying universe isn’t something that I created, so I have to treat it with a certain amount of respect, and give it back in more or less the same condition it was in when I got it. If I want to kill any characters, I have to either make them up and fit them into the world, or I have to figure out a way to bring them back to life by the end (easier in some fictional universes than others). But beyond that–and the fact that they can be research-intensive, especially if it’s something like Star Trek, with 40-some years of history behind it–the craft is the same. I need to create a compelling plot, populate it with interesting characters, and tell a good story. That doesn’t change, regardless of who the owner of the underlying property is.

With comics, the primary differences are that the individual issues are much shorter than even most short stories, and there’s a collaborative element, because I’m not doing the art. So I have to figure out how much of the story to let the artist tell (as much as possible) and slice my prose down to the barest minimum so I don’t cover up those pictures with word balloons.

5) Any last words?

I’m about to go off and do something a little strange, for me–I’ve been invited to speak at a symposium called “Inside the Mind of a Mass Murderer.” I was invited thanks to my nonfiction book Criminal Minds: Sociopaths, Serial Killers and Other Deviants, and I’ve been spending the last couple of months doing nonstop research on mass murder. It’s a sad topic, one I wish we never had to talk about, but the research has been fascinating, and I think I’ve come up with some relatively original theories. There may or may not be a book about it down the line. Coincidentally, it’s in Colorado (Vail, not Silver Gap–which doesn’t actually exist), so I get to visit Season of the Wolf country a month before the book comes out.

Other than that, I’ll be busy writing, and I appreciate everybody who buys and reads my stuff!

Today’s entry into my “Friday 5 Questions with…” series comes from K. Anthony Pagano. With his Lion in the Dark series, Pagano is helping bring back the lost art of serial novels. K. Anthony Pagano has a lot to say about the art of writing and the challenges of being an independent author, so instead of wasting time with a bulky interview, I’m going to let his answers to my questions do the talking. So, without further ado, I give you K. Anthony Pagano!

I’ve been friends with Joseph Williams for a little over a year now. I met him when I found out about his short story collection, Detroit Macabre. I tried to bring it into the local stores, but I couldn’t because I could only get it non-returnable through Ingram (luckily, Joe was able to get some at his store without us). We kept in contact after Borders shut down, and I even picked up his book before the Novi store closed down.

We also have plans to start a writing group and a horror blog one of these days.

As it just so happens, Joe released his latest novel, The Hunt, and it’s a free Kindle ebook download until tomorrow. If you want a great read in the horror genre, consider giving The Hunt a chance. I’ve read lots of Joe’s short stories, but this is his first novel. Support independent authors.

New York Times Bestselling author Michael Spradlin is most known for his books for younger readers and zombie song and poem parodies. This week, with the release of his latest novel, Blood Riders, Spradlin can now add accomplished adult novelist to his resume as well.

I’ve been friends with Michael since 2004 during my time with Borders, and through that time, I’ve been able to see how passionate he is about the book world. Spradlin is a book person’s person and it shows every time I talk with him.

Enough about Mike though…onto Blood Riders!

Blood Riders, set in the late 1800s,tells the story of Civil War vet Jonas Hollister, a man who was falsely accused of perjury when it comes to the disappearance of his 11 men. His group was ambushed by a band of “flesh eaters” and Jonas was the only survivor. The only problem is that there is absolutely no trace of a scuffle or his team anywhere, so Jonas is sentenced to prison at Fort Leavenworth.

After four years of prison, Jonas is pardoned by real-life detective Allan Pinkerton because another attack had occurred and as the survivor of the previous attack, Jonas is uniquely talented for the task of hunting down the perpetrators in exchange for a full pardon. From there, Jonas is paired with the likes of Pinkerton, Oliver Winchester, and a familiar face to all horror fans, Van Helsing. Aside from Jonas, another person is also pursuing the vampiric Archaics who joins Pinkerton’s hunt. Her story just makes Blood Riders even better.

Spradlin’s novel is an intense blend of horror and western (with a little steampunk thrown in for good measure). If Borders were still around, I would be the buyer for this book and I would have definitely promoted it because I want everyone to know about it. Since I can’t do that, I can do the next best thing. Mike has decided to give away THREE Amazon Kindle eBook copies of Blood Riders!

Stay tuned after our 5 Question Interview for details on how you can get a chance to win a free copy of Blood Riders.

So, without further delay, here’s our interview.

Before Blood Riders, your main writing focus has been with books for young readers. What was it like to switch gears and start writing books for adults – especially a novel that blends so many genres?
Obviously writing for children is different in terms of language and themes. But the essentials of the novel are the same. You still have to tell an entertaining story. Paying too close attention to the who the audience is, can sometimes get you in trouble. It’s better to think about making the story as fun and interesting as you can.

The narrative weaves real-life people like Allan Pinkerton with famous literary figures like Van Helsing. Do you feel some sort of responsibility when using them in your book?
I try to be as accurate as I can to who they were and how they are described in my research or in Van Helsing’s case in Dracula. But it’s also fiction so I get to ‘make up the rules’ to a certain degree. Obviously it’s a little easier with a character like Van Helsing as there is only one source. But Pinkerton was a very interesting man and digging into his life added a lot to Blood Riders, I felt, even though he’s a relatively minor character.

What is it about vampires that make them so ingrained in popular culture? What are the vampires in Blood Riders like?
I think they’re ingrained in popular culture because they’re scary and we like to be scared. There is an element of the idea that a human being is taken over and only the darkest side of us remains. That’s a pretty frightening proposition. In Blood Riders my ‘vampires’ are a bit of a hybrid of a couple of different myths. I wanted to explore the idea of an early race of vampires. I wondered if, in the fictional realm, did vampires and werewolves and other monsters evolve and adapt to their environment the way humans did? And what would happen if this group of vampires made a conscious decision hundreds of years ago, to isolate themselves from humanity? In order to insure they were not overwhelmed by the sheer mass of human beings and humans greater use of technology, their cleverness, their ability to band together in a way that a race of beings whose soul purpose is to hunt and feed. They don’t invent, they don’t ‘civilize’ beyond a basic tribal structure. In order to ensure their survival they must remain hidden. That becomes a double edged sword. By remaining hidden they don’t grow, if they don’t remain hidden they risk decimation. It was an interesting question to delve into.

With Halloween just around the corner, do you have any recommendations for scary reads to get us in the mood?
I highly recommend the Richard Kadrey Sandman Slim series. And I’m constantly amazed at the number of people of who’ve never read Dracula. One of the truly scary novels of all time. And it’s always a good idea to read or reread ‘Salem’s Lot around Halloween. You know, just so you’ll be scared to take the trash out in the dark.

Any last words?
None except thanks for giving me a chance to speak to your audience and I hope they’ll buy and read Blood Riders and tell 10,000 of their closest friends!

If you’re like me, that interview grabbed your interest to see what Blood Riders is all about (thankfully, I’ve read it already so I know exactly how much fun you’re in store for). Well, now’s your chance to get an opportunity to win a copy of the ebook in Kindle format directly from the author himself!

Interested in winning a free copy of Blood Riders?

Here’s how: From now until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, September 30th, 2012 all you have to do is comment on this post and let me know what your favorite horror novel is. Simple, right?

That’s right, you could potentially have five total entries into the free Blood Riders ebook contest.

I will randomly select three winners based on the above criteria on Monday, October 1st, 2012. If you are going for the bonus entries, please don’t forget to mention which ones you’ve completed in your horror novel comment to this blog.